


Change the Radio Channel Please

by Crynhiwn



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Eventual Smut, M/M, Professor Charles - Freeform, mentions of drug abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-11-28 00:11:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18200864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crynhiwn/pseuds/Crynhiwn
Summary: Charles floats around the darkness more. A wall suddenly bumps into him and he feels a doorknob.“Curious”He tries the doorknob and finds out it is unlocked.“Might as well”, Charles chucklesHe opens the door.A strong white light blinds him





	1. Freedom for the Gladiator

There’s a sudden explosion and Charles feels a strong stinging pain to his neck. He can’t move and he absent-mindedly brings his hand to his neck, he feels something wet.

Erik running to him is what his eyes focuses on.

It’s the only thing he can focus on right now.

His ears are ringing and he can feel himself passing out.

Suddenly another warm hand presses firmly on the hand that holds his neck. Erik is frantically saying something, he can't understand any of it.

Erik’s eyes are a mossy green color, no, Charles contradicts himself, it’s ocean blue that shifts to a green.

Right now he’s not even sure if it really is that color.

Charles looks around and tries to lift himself up, what happened? Erik presses him back to lie down while kneeling beside him. There’s blood pooling at his nape and white spots are appearing in his vision.

Erik is almost cradling Charles in his arms, he increases the pressure in his neck.

Charles looks up at Erik again and sees his ridiculous helmet. The one Shaw had created to keep a telepath’s mind out.

There’s a similarity to this position they’re in.

Back to Cuba, back to Shaw, back to the bullet.

Charles’ brings up his free hand to cup Erik’s face. Tears begin to well in the man’s eyes and he wonders why. From afar Charles’ skin has begun to pale in color and the slice in his neck is deep enough that it looks like it cut through an artery.

Scrunching up his face, Charles focuses on trying to understand what Erik is saying. Somewhere along the lines of “Stay with me” and “Please”. He wishes Erik would take off his stupid helmet.

He feels heavier now and he’s struggling to breathe.

Panic sits in and Charles starts to weakly push Erik’s helmet off, the other man gets the cue.

The helmet comes off

A sudden influx of thoughts and panicked gibberish enters his mind; Erik looks at Charles.

“Don’t go yet”, a clear thought from Erik worms its way into his mind

“I’m right here”, Charles replies but the labored breathes and the purpling of his lips say the opposite. 

Erik was losing him.

Suddenly someone is shouting for help. Charles’ eyelids feel heavy and the hem of his shirt is soaked with his own blood.

Charles projects a thought into Erik’s head, “I feel tired”

“Don’t go, not yet” Erik cries loudly in his head again.

"Anyone else but you" Erik pleads now.

“It’s getting cold, I should have dressed better”, He sends that thought to Erik. A pained grin plasters on his face as he chuckles weakly. The rise and fall of his chest is faint.

"Promise me you'll fix this?" a quiet voice tells the other man, Charles smiles at Erik in hope he'll accept this one last favor. 

It's been made clear that there's no way he can make it alive now.

A forehead presses to his and he tries his best to open his eyes. Erik presses a kiss to his forehead, it feels nice.

Then a kiss to the lips and it has Charles reminiscing how long it's been.

“I missed this”, Charles weakly sends out one last thought. It’s calm right now and all he can feel is Erik close to him. It really has been too long.

He brings his free hand over to Erik's and squeezes it tightly, he can feel himself slipping. 

Then Charles becomes heavier in Erik’s arm. The hand he’s pressing against to the wound loses grip. One heavy breath goes through the wounded man’s lips and it stays open and unmoving after.

Erik’s hands are stained with blood.

Charles hears someone screaming but his body can’t move, and his vision is gone. The sounds eventually stop and he’s enveloped in a comforting darkness.

Charles thinks of his children, what will happen to them now? What about his sister Raven? Will she do fine now that he’s gone? What about Jean? Is she doing ok? How about Scott?

And what about Erik? 

Such a weird thing fate has put him through. He thinks of the time back in his childhood and how his family turned out. He thinks of the time he found Raven scrounging for leftovers in their fridge. How he met Erik trying to pull a submarine out of the ocean, and everything that soon unfolded after.

Who knew it would lead up to this.

Charles floats around the darkness more. A wall suddenly bumps into him and he feels a doorknob.

“Curious”

He tries the doorknob and finds out it is unlocked.

“Might as well”, Charles chuckles

He opens the door.

A strong white light blinds him

———————————————————

An unfamiliar song is playing the background

“ ** _Who ran from roman candles underneath willow weeping? Do the tealights on your mantle illuminate that summer feeling?_** ”

He sits up and holds his head in his hands. He’s got a massive headache and the volume of the music isn’t helping.

“ _ **You’re the seashell in my sandal that’s slicing up my heel**_ ”

“What the hell is happening?” Charles says out loud.

He slides off the bed he’s laying in and knocks over a glass of water and a wallet from his night stand

“ _ **You’re a plimsoll punk and you’re getting me down, Wracking my brain trying to escape, getting me down**_ ”

He picks up the fallen glass and the wallet from the ground. A corner of an i.d. is peeking out and he takes it out to check it.

 

_**TentsForth University** _

** Charles Xavier  **

                                                                                   Occupation:                     College Professor  
                                                                                       Specialty:                     Genetics                                                                                                                                                                                ID Number:                     X-167

 

“What in the ever living fuck” Charles almost yells out loud. The song continues to blare in the background

“ _ **You’re posture’s blocking out any possible light, I can no longer see**_ ”

Charles holds on to the night stand and sits back down on the bed, the man in the i.d. has the same name and the same face as him. But he’s sure it’s not him

“ _ **This conversation spirals into a fight, I can barely breathe**_ ”

The song ends and a dj cuts in.

“ **Now we’ve just heard a banger from Alvvays and it is called Plimsoll Punks. The time now is quarter past 7 and the date today is March 21, 2019. Hope y’all have a great day ahead of you and keep in tune with us at **Celestial Tunez,** 101.67.**”

Charles’ eyes pop wide open. Was he hearing right? Did the dj just say 2019? Was someone messing with him right now. What pranks have Jean and the others thought of now.

“All right guys jokes over cut it out” Charles yells. He stands to his feet and walks over the radio, then it sets into him.

Where was his wheelchair? And how was he walking right now without the help of Hank.

The doorway of this room was wide open and he could see this was not his house.

Carefully Charles walks outside of the room and sees a woman with brown hair sitting on the sofa, in what seems to be the living room.

She glances up from what she was watching on the television. “What?” she asks Charles.


	2. Training Wheels

The voice is familiar, it’s Raven?

“Raven?” he asks

“What?” the woman asks again but this time giving him a confused look

He walks to move closer and sees Raven’s eyes, it’s hazel and freckles and pimples scatter all over her face.

“Why are you disguised like this? It’s just me” Charles asks

Raven grabs his hands from trying to touch her face

“Okay? Hahaha” She chuckles, Charles releases a breath of relief and waits for her to transform into her blue self.

“Well what are you waiting for? How come you haven’t gone back yet” Charles asks

“Gone back to what?” Raven asks

“To your normal self?”

“Am I not normal now?” Raven now looks more confused.

“No, I mean your normal blue self, your normal state”

“Are you on drugs right now? Because I swear to god if you are.” Raven replies more sternly

Charles looks distraught right now. He squats down and squeezes and mushes Raven’s face around. What is happening? Is this even Raven?

“Are you Raven?” Charles asks in a desperate way

“Holy shit Charles please don’t tell me you REALLY are on drugs again” Raven tells him with concern. She grabs his hands and looks him dead in the eyes

There’s no shifting in the color of her eyes and her skin is splattered with tiny discoloration and hyperpigmentation. Something Raven could never replicate precisely. It looked human and real.

Charles focuses his mind and tries to listen to her thoughts. Nothing. Usually by now he can hear the minds of others but it’s strangely quiet.

“Oh my god Charles look at me” Raven tells him.

He looks at her and she brings out a tiny flashlight and flashes it to his eyes. She checks his pulse and twists his arm to inspect it.

She then forces his head up to check his nose and then forcefully opens his mouth to check it. Once she seemed content with all she’s seen she lets out a sigh of relief.

“Okay what the fuck is happening” Raven asks Charles.

It takes a while for Charles to think of an excuse.

“Nothing, nothing, just had a weirdly realistic dream that I forgot I woke up already” Charles bullshits to calm ‘Raven’ down.

“Fuck Charles, you scared me there” Raven relents and sits back down properly and watches the telly.

Charles sits beside her on the sofa and tries to grasp what’s happening. He’s with his ‘sister’ who seemingly does not have her abilities. He’s dumbfounded, where is he?

There’s an awkward silence between them as Charles tries to grasp what’s happening right now.

“Shouldn’t you get ready for your 11am lecture Charles? You’re usually getting ready to go get coffee by now” Raven says cutting through the air of silence.

Lecture? Charles didn’t even know where the university he was teaching at was.

“Yeah it slipped my mind, i’ll get dressed now” Charles mutters as he watches the show Raven’s watching. Girls clad in skintight dresses fighting with each other. Last time he remembered watching something on the telly was when Star Trek came out.

He gets up and paces to his room. A small rectangular device placed on the nightstand pops up a reminder on its screen. The date says March 21,2019.

“Get coffee for Moira today!!!” the reminder states.

“Fuck, Moira?” Is she the same person Charles knows or is it a different person?

He fumbles with the device and eventually gets it to open. He clicks a box in the screen that says reminders. Hopefully something in it will give some indication what he does on this person’s day to day basis.

Luckily there’s a set itinerary.

_**8am : Coffee run at Summers Café, get Moira her iced caramel cappuccino. Don’t forget to bring your laptop!!!** _

_**9am : pass by Hank and Moira at the diner. Have breakfast.** _

_**10:30am: Get to University and get ready for the Lecture** _

_**11am : Lecture.** _

_**12:30am : End of Lecture. Lunch** _

The itinerary stops at 12:30. Nothing else is written. Well at least half of the day is planned for him. For now he’ll try to blend in.

He walks to the bathroom and looks at the mirror. There’s significantly less wrinkles in his face and his hair has grown out. He touches his back but feels no bullet scar.

“Wow” Charles says.

He takes a shower and dries off promptly after. He notices a small scar in his forearm but pays no mind.

The contents of the closet here is the same as what he remembered back in his home. 

Dressing up then putting on a cardigan, he heads off to leave.

“I’ll be leaving now Raven” Charles yells as he’s about to open the door.

“You’re forgetting something you fool” Raven says nonchalantly.

Charles stops dead in his tracks. Shit. What did he forget? He can't expose himself now, the 'Raven' he's with might be a different person than the Raven he knows.

He's sure he's brought what was needed. Maybe it's an existential question. Maybe it's the fact that he doesn’t know who he is? Or the reason why he’s able to walk right now? Maybe he’s actually still dying right now and Raven is the grim reaper posing as his sister.

Think Charles, you have to think. What the hell are you forgetting?

“My sanity?” Charles replies with an awkward chuckle, hoping Raven would take it as an acceptable answer.

Raven looks at him, confused again with what he’s doing.

Charles starts to sweat. He can actually feel the droplets of sweat slide down his asscrack, one of the few times he actually wishes he couldn’t feel the lower half of his body.

Raven twirls carl keys in the air before throwing it at him.

“Your car keys idiot, I used your car last night to get some nuggets at McDonalds and ended up scratching a small bit from the side. But I love you and you’re going to ruin your schedule if you scold me right now”

Charles breathes a sigh of relief. Okay maybe he’s clear for now.

“Alright i’ll be leaving, just....make sure to be careful next time” Charles replies.

Raven throws up a peace sign and he’s out the door. He sees his supposed car in driveway. The small scratch looks like its a yard long. If he actually remembered purchasing the car he would be pissed, but Hank's the one taking care of the machines back in the reality he knows.

He gets in the car and starts it. Okay, it’s been long since he’s drove on his own. Someone would usually do it for him, most of the time it’s Hank driving him.He moves the gear from park to drive and almost crashes it on the garage door.

“Shit,shit,shit” Charles shouts

The gear is placed in reverse and he manages to get the car off the driveway. Driving straight ahead not even knowing where the café is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okie ya know my writing is really REALLY BAD and I need to improve, but i've got inspiration right now and if I put this on the backburner i'd probably forget to do it so.....ya as usual tell me if there are any mistakes or grammatical errors. Plus would love to hear comments!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Song:
> 
> Plimsoll Punks by Alvvays
> 
> Lovelovelove this band
> 
> Y’all the dark phoenix trailer is really fucking me up. Y can’t they just give charles and erik a happy ending already ;-; I also am NOT ready for Disney possibly rebooting X-Men. Jfc I don’t want to lose James and Michael :’((( TELL ME ALSO IF THERE ARE ANY GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES


End file.
